Desire for the Truth
by Your-legal-drug
Summary: Alphonse Elric being the narrator, he tells the story through a whole year in Central. Being confused, he tries to figure out how he got to Central when the last place he remembered he was in was Germany.
1. Chapter I: January

Disclaimer: I don't own the FMA characters; I just made up their birthday dates too.

January

I felt the sunlight pierced through the window, I knew nothing what happened. My head aches badly. Maybe there was a New Year's Eve party; maybe Edward might have made me drink some alcohol and I must have passed out. Although, my head isn't the only place I ache, but also my whole body. Second, I wouldn't believe that my own brother, who cares so much for me, would do that. Last but not least, my mouth doesn't taste like any vomit or alcohol. Other than that, my breath doesn't smell too good so I better wake up to brush my teeth. It's not like I never wake up early just to brush my teeth, in fact, I brush my teeth everyday. It was time to open my eyes and wake up.

As I did so, I saw the ceiling was different. My heart started to beat harder. Was I taken elsewhere? But I seemed to recognize this place, it seems oddly familiar. I sat up cautiously to make sure I wasn't with some rapist or criminal of the sort. I spotted another single bed not too far off from the one I was in although there was much space in between to walk through. There was a blond man on the bed, resting, snoring slightly. Recognizing his body traits and his automail limbs, I assumed that it was Edward. My heart stopped racing as I simply got up quietly, going to the bathroom, trying not to wake my older brother.

I entered the bathroom to notice we were in the military base in Central. I was nervous. What if brother had knocked me out and done something out of the ordinary? Were we not originally in Germany with Hitler gaining control with his Nazi democratic party? Did Edward really managed to bring us back in Shambala? My concerns were now directed to my brother and no longer for my bad breath. I ran to him and shook slightly, tears developing in my eyes.

"Nii-san… Nii-san… Nii-san!"

My voice cracked as I saw him open his eyes slowly, I feared what was to come. I hugged him gently.

"… You're alive, Brother."

I could feel his movements as I felt him sitting up, his hand patting my back for comfort. His mouth opened slightly and asked me in a confused tone.

"What… what's wrong, Al?"

I pulled away and gazed at him. His voice sounded just as his face looks. My eyebrows frowned slightly and wiped my tears.

"… Nii-san… why are we back in Central? Why aren't we in Germany…? How did thi---"

I was cut before I can ask my last question. Okay, maybe the third question before I finished.

"Al, relax. I don't know myself why we're back, but it's a good thing, no?"

He smiled and seemed to be acting like everything was great, like life was an ease. I kept on insisting on asking questions, I desperately wanted the answers to stop my concerns and my perplexity.

"… You mean… you don't know why… I mean how we got here? Isn't this what you did?"

That's when he blinked; he appeared more bewildered than I was. That's when I figured to drop the subject with a sigh and start asking questions that are, let's say, positive.

"I bet you can't wait until we got to Ressembol. I know someone who probably missed you… a lot."

I nudge him while smirking, gave him a little wink as I putted enthusiasm on that 'a lot'. He glared at me, turning his head away from my vision although I saw that slight blush appear on his cheeks. It was so obvious that he loved Winry, and it was really obvious that she loved Ed except they just won't tell each other how they feel. I bet they're even going out in secret. Foolish, I tell you, foolish.

"Shut up."

He mumbled as he stretched. I got up and left to my teeth brushing, although I worried of how Noah is reacting. Our sudden disappearance might be worrying her. I feel very guilty leaving her behind, but it's not like we know how we got here. I hope she'll be alright and that she doesn't worry too much about us. I closed the door and did the essentials of the morning. Maybe this was all a dream. It was somewhat too good to be true.

It has to be a dream… But… maybe I'm wrong.

When I came out, I saw my brother getting dressed in his old uniform. I have to say that black and red did suit him very well. Unfortunately, those clothes were getting to small for him. After all, he was gone to Germany for quite awhile, almost four years. That means that we were going for two years. Edward is now twenty years old and I'm in my sweet sixteen. Well, we're going to be. That's for sure. Edward's birthday is in October the fifth, for mine is November nineteenth. His gaze turned to me as he did a cheesy smile at me.

"I guess my clothes are too small for me."

He laughed shortly. I couldn't help but smile and mention:

"Well, I guess you've grown Nii-san."

I felt suddenly a cold glare threatening me.

"I was only mentioning… I wasn't saying you were short!"

A few veins appeared on my older brother's face, and then he started yelling at me.

"Short! SHORT! WHO YOU CALLING A SMALL SPECK OF DUST THAT YOU CAN'T EVEN SEE WITH A MAGNIFYING GLASS! You should speak for yourself! You're an inch smaller than I am FOR YOUR INFORMATION ALPHONSE!"

Obviously, I knew this would occur. This huge fuss only to defend himself from the truth of his height. Unbelievable. He still looked frustrated; this made me feel uncomfortable and gloomy. His golden eyes showed guilt to my expression and looked away.

"… I'm sorry Al."

He mentioned with his head down. I forced a smile, walked to him and placing my hand on his shoulder. He turned his head and saw my smile. He couldn't help but to grin himself.

"Should we go pay a visit to Winry, Pinako and Den?"

I asked as we heard a knock on our door. Edward went to answer; he opened the door to see it was Riza.

"Good morning, Edward. Good morning, Alphonse."

She bowed her head to us once she greeted us and once we greeted back. Riza always had that serious yet cheerful smile on her face. I wondered if she knew we were gone, maybe she had the answers to my previous questions. Her regard was directed to my brother.

"Edward-kun, Mustang-san wishes to see you."

My brother's face fell apart. He sighed, one thing he probably didn't miss about Shambala was how Roy would say his witty comments about him. He dragged himself to Riza, his back crouched like a jumbo shrimp, his frown to his chin, his hands almost touching the ground, and lifting his heavy head… he looked like Havoc when he gets shot down by a girl. He looked upon me and said depressively:

"You stay here Al… I'll be back… hopefully soon."

I just nodded and glance at them leaving. As they closed the door, I sighed and sat down on my bed. I then notice I wasn't wearing much myself and Riza saw me half-naked. Gah! What should I wear? What should I wear? Maybe brother's old clothes do fit me, it's not like I grew very tall, I'm only an inch and a few dust taller than him when he was my age. I'll probably stay that way too. However, my height doesn't matter much to me, unlike Edward.

I searched in my brother's drawer and found a few clothing. Once I was slipping into the pants, I felt a presence watching me from the window; it made me quite uncomfortable. I wasn't sure to look or not, my instincts told me to but my heart dreaded of what it was. I cease all actions and glanced with the corner of my right eye. There, I saw a figure in the window frame outside. I turned around completely to see who it was but the figure vanished. I scampered to the window and gazed down. There was nothing. It was at least a three stories high apartment from the ground. Maybe it was my imagination that was playing tricks on me, at least I hope so.

After I finished dressing up, and may I say that Ed's clothes fits me like a glove, the door opened and gave me one of these scares. Maybe it was that figure. What did it want with me? Who was it? I screamed slightly and flinched on to my bed, my eyes closely shut as I was crouched into the beetle position. All I could hear was another person who was startle, probably by me, and it sounded quite familiar.

"Al! Why did you scream? You almost scared the living daylights out of me."

I opened my eyes and glanced at my brother who was heavy breathing and holding his chest. I came back into a normal sitting position. My head was down but my eyes were up to see Edward.

"… I'm sorry, Nii-san… I'm just paranoid. I saw a figure in the window and I thought you we---"

"Al… stop playing games. This window is about three stories high, there's no way someone just popped up in your window."

He sighed as he stayed in the door frame. My head rose and nodded slightly. I felt stupid for a moment there, although maybe my brother got it bad from Roy, it was probably that.

"I'm sorry."

I said again as I notice that he wasn't looking at me. Did I do something wrong? I sighed deeply. Edward started talking again.

"I'm off to the library. You stay here."

"Have you been assigned to something, Nii-san?"

He shook his head firmly and glanced at me.

"No. I just got a lot of studying to do. I might be late home tonight."

Edward walked up to me and gave me his wallet.

"You can go and buy yourself something to eat… or go to the military's cafeteria. Alright?"

He forced a smile and messed up my hair with his left hand.

"See ya."

He left before I could even ask him what he was studying about. Other than that, I was more intrigue about how Roy came back in command as Lieutenant Colonel. It's as if we came back in time. It's as if we never left for Germany. What was going on?

All long January, my mind continued to ponder on these thoughts as I tried to briefly remember what happened, how we got here in the first place. Ed was always gone to the library, studying who knows what. Today, I went outside to clear my head. I saw children playing in the snow. I cried. I cried because it reminded me of Nina. That poor innocent girl… she shouldn't have died. She'd be eleven now. Death is harsh, it followed me everywhere. It touched me once, but it was my choice and yet, I'm here. To imagine all the people who died around my brother and I. I believe that sometimes, we… are death.


	2. Chapter II: February

February

Edward was still in the library, he seemed to be very busy. The subject of his studies was unknown to me, although his condition started to worry me. He came home late and left early. It's like we didn't even share the same life anymore. Nevertheless, I stayed up one night just to talk to him about his hard work and how he should lay off it for awhile. From what I remembered, when he was with me, Edward always seemed to be trying to lack off work but he always continued to do it. He just seemed to be more active and spontaneous, always wanting to take a short vacation from time to time. Ever since he was in Germany, he seemed to have become more serious and hardworking. I suppose Alphonse Heiderich's influence must have gotten to him.

I sat on the bed and I waited for him. The clock was two minutes away from striking one, it was late and my eyes were weary. I couldn't help but to notice awhile after that he left a few of his clothes on the floor and I couldn't contain myself but to pick them up. As soon as I did, my brother entered with a depressive, tired look on his face. He walked to his bed and took off his shoes. Then, he collapsed onto the bed.

"Brother…?"

I spoke softly; I didn't want to make him anxious after all that work he's been doing.

"… How come you're still awake?"

He mumbled in his pillow while slowly turning to me.

"… I was waiting for you… I wanted to talk to you about something…"

"… Can't you talk to me about this tomorrow?"

He groaned; I could sense his drowsiness was affecting his irritation. I had no choice but to insist this time; it was the third time this week that I have tried to have a word with him and yet he still answers me the same response as usual.

"… No, brother. It's really important."

I heard him sigh deeply as he sat up, turning completely towards me. He was a wreck. His eyelids were multiplying each time I saw him.

"What is it?"

He sounded annoyed, and I felt guilty for it. I held his clothes close to me and I swallowed my fears.

"… I think… you should take a little break."

His golden eyes fixed into mine, he looked as in he was in a state of shock. His mouth was opened but nothing came out. I felt like I said something wrong and that I should just leave. I couldn't. I was frozen solid, incapable of looking away of those yellow eyes. It was as if he struck me to the wall with an invisible arrow. I somehow thought he wanted an explanation for my suggestion.

"… Brother, you've been working mighty hard… for a few weeks… I just think you should lay off a little… I'm just… worried for you."

I said as I was capable of freeing myself from his regard; I simply gazed at the ground. The room was quiet until I heard a short yet nervous laugh. I raise my head to see my brother smiling; boy, I haven't seen that in awhile. He tilted his head slightly behind and scratched his scalp.

"… I guess… I could take a little break."

He said in a calm voice. This made me happy; I smiled, dropped his clothes and jumped onto my brother's bed to hug him. He blinked, smiled and patted my back gently.

"I'm sorry for worrying you…"

He yawned a bit. I removed myself and regarded him. He stretched and yawned again.

"We should get some rest."

He mentioned as he lay down on his bed. I got off and placed a cover over him.

"You better rest."

I threatened him playfully as I walked back to my bed.

We rested until the afternoon.

I woke up and noticed that my brother was still sleeping. I figured that when he'd wake up, he'd like it to have a nice meal in front of him. I wrote a note about my departure to buy a breakfast and that I would be back in a short while. Of course, that was just to make sure when he wakes up and finds out I'm not there, not to panic. I placed the note on his pillow beside his pillow. I heard him mumble Winry a couple of times. What a lover boy.

I left the room quietly on my tip toes. I didn't want to wake him up from his beautiful dream of his future lover. When I closed the door the most inaudibly as I could, I thought about my love life. I didn't have anyone. Edward told me it would come in time. At my age, he had two girls after him and yet, me… No one. He must be better looking than I am, it could be. Or maybe girls of my age are more for the less sensitive and more for the outgoing types. Well, I am not about to change.

I walked out of the military base and headed to the main street of Central where all the restaurants would be. Obviously, I would take a doggy-bag for my brother and I.

It was a nice day today. Sun was bright, the sky was clear, no signs of the clouds; just a very beautiful day. I arrived at the restaurant which serves lunch since it was pass noon. I ordered a platter named miso soup, my brother seem to like that plate very much. It's some kind of thing named dashi, miso paste, small leek sliced very fine tofu cubed and wakame seaweed strands; from what the lady told me. I took the same thing since it was on special and started to march back to the military.

On my way, I noticed a girl gazing at me. This made me nervous. She was quite pretty I must say, but somehow, I didn't feel too attracted to her. She came walking over to me. I kept my eyes on the ground and kept walking. What would I say to whatever she says? I hope she asks the time… the only thing is that I don't have the time. She finally catches up and taps me on the shoulder.

"Excuse me…"

She had some kind of accent that was somewhat very sexy.

"You are an Elric, are you not?"

I turned to her and smiled weakly, trying not to show that I was edgy.

"Y-yes. I am an Elric. Why do you ask… madam?"

I thought I screwed up, my voice was screeching slightly. But when I thought everything went wrong, she giggled.

"Please… I am a miss…"

I apologized quickly while bowing my head and she raise it with one of her fingers, her nose one inch away from mine. I gulped nervously.

"Are you not the famous… Fullmetal Alchemist?"

I blinked slightly and shook my head.

"N-no, miss. I'm his younger brother."

She removed her finger from under my chin and placed both her hands on her hips.

"Well then… do you mind answering a few questions for him… Oh my… I forgot your first name… what was it?"

"… Alphonse."

I felt like I wasn't important. My brother was always the one who seem to be the best at everything. I sighed deeply and nodded.

"And I'll answer your question, miss."

She regarded at me with a strange look, must have been the tone of my voice. I was completely discourage.

"… well then… first things first… does he have a girlfriend?"

I stopped walking. I thought this might have been questions about his physicals and his alchemy ways but not personal life questions.

"… He loves someone… but he doesn't want to admit it."

The young woman smiled and got a little closer to me, her eyebrows raised in an intrigue.

"… do you know this girl?"

She had a smirk while raising her eyebrows up and doing, just waiting for my answer.

"Yes."

I answered firmly, somewhat confused why she asked these questions.

"What is her name?"

She kept on insisting, I wanted to ask her some questions of my own, but I felt it were more polite to answer hers before asking mine.

"Winry. But why are you---"

"Winry who?"

"Winry Rockbell. But as I was saying, why are you asking all th----"

"Where does she lives?"

"In Ressembol. Why are you asking all these questi---"

"Do you have a picture of her?"

"Yes. But please hear me out, why are you asking all these----"

"Can I see it?"

"Yes. But before I show it to you… could you please answer my question?"

I can't believe how many times this woman cut me off, how impolite of her! She's lucky I'm not impatient like my brother.

"Sure."

He took out the photo from my brother's wallet and fixed my eyes on her.

"Why do you ask all these questions?"

She smiled sweetly at me and placed her fingers on the tip of the photo.

"I'm a reporter, kid."

She stared at me evilly with a grin and stole Winry's photo.

"And you know when going gets tough; people need a good story for the newspaper."

She started to run off. I then realized how dead I would be if Edward found out his picture of Winry was stolen from his wallet, placed in the newspaper with an article that he loves her and that the chances that the newspaper gets to Ressembol are high. I freaked out and placed the miso soups beside the wall and ran after her.

"Wait! That's the only picture he has of her!"

I yelled as I tried to catch up to her. She went inside an automobile and screamed "DRIVE" to the driver. I had no choice. It was this reporter's best scoop or my survival. I decided to be selfish for once; I didn't want to screw up on my brother's day off.

I slipped my hands into my pockets, took out my alchemy gloves. I clapped my hands together and place them on a building, making a dead-end for the car. The car stopped just in time before crashing in the wall and I just walked to it slowly. I saw the woman coming out and started to yell at me with insults of some sorts. I ignored her. I was dead serious. No one messes with my brother's life unless they get through me. In this case, they haven't.

As I got to the woman, she stopped screaming at me while I suppose she had seen my face. I was quite pissed off.

"Give me the picture."

I said in a serious tone, placing my hand in front of her. She just gave a cold look.

"You're insane. I've got one of the best scoops of my life and you want me to give it away!"

"Find yourself another scoop."

Suddenly I felt cheery.

"Like Roy Mustang!"

I just smiled at her, trying to convince her. Wouldn't that make my brother happy to know a couple of rumors about Mustang. I know that would make his day.

"Afterall, he isn't just a Major in the military… no no… he's a colonel… and that's a high rank… and imagine those juicy rumors about…"

I stopped and looked at my fingers for a moment, giving the reporter a look once in awhile. She seem to be drooling for more information.

"… Alright… Alright…"

She handed me the picture and nudged me.

"Now… juicy rumors about what?"

I just simply smile and slipped out the relationship between Roy and Riza. Then I left to see if my miso soup orders were still there. Lucky me, they were. I walked back to the room and opened the door quietly to see my brother dressing up.

"Good evening, Nii-san."

I smiled sweetly at him as I closed the door. He turned to me and blinked.

"Oh, hey Al. I was just about to go and find you."

He smiled slightly and then spotted the miso soups.

"… is that…?"

He looked at me with a famished regard. I simply nodded and took his soup.

"… I love you, Al…"

He sat down and he started to eat like he hadn't eaten in days, which was probably the case. But I sat down in front of him and started to eat my soup slowly until I realized what he said to me.

"What?"

I looked at him, feeling a slight blush on my cheeks. He blinked and lift an eyebrow.

"… I said I love you, Al."

He said with a mouthful. I was feeling weird inside, why… why did he say he loved me? I was completely confused; I didn't know what to say! He saw me probably really confused and not understanding what he meant, he swallowed his bite and spoke up.

"I love you because you bought me some miso."

My tense body collapsed into a relax mode.

"Alright."

I just smiled and we ate quietly. I was still somewhat in shock of how I overreacted. Why did I overreact? Why was I blushing? All these questions were not to be answered because I didn't know the answer myself. We sat down on the bed and started to talk about things.

"So… when do you feel like going back to Ressembol to surprise everyone?"

I mentioned as I hope he would say sometime soon.

"… I don't know if I want to go back there."

He seems to tremble in fear for some reason.

"How come?"

"I fear the wrench…"

He looked at me with cute, pitiful eyes. I blinked a bit and smiled. I found a reason for him not to be afraid.

"Well, you've grown a bit, haven't you?"

"… I guess. And what do you mean by a bit!"

He became furious and before he could do any big commotion over nothing I'd explain my reason.

"Well, remember when you came back from Germany two years ago?"

I ask as he nodded.

"Did she hit you with a wrench?"

He was dumbfounded. He knew I was right. The only thing he could say to me was:

"Shut up."

I chuckled a bit and I looked outside. I pointed out the snow falling.

"Look, it's snowing."

"Yeah… it is."

The room stood in silence as we both admired the snowflakes gently falling from the fluffy grey clouds leaving us to drift off in our deepest thoughts. I hope to go to Ressembol soon. I couldn't wait to see our family.


End file.
